Former Italian passenger liner Conte Rosso, the ship's construction was suspended after the outbreak of World War I. She was purchased unlaunched in August 1916 and converted into an aircraft carrier, the World's first to have a full-length flight deck upon which wheeled aircraft could land and take-off with relative safety. As such, she established the general pattern for future aircraft carriers. Argus was commissioned in September 1918, shortly before the end of the Great War. She spent much of her first decade on the vital work of developing carrier techniques and training aviators in the demanding work of operating aircraft at sea. Her merchant ship hull, relatively small size and modest speed limited her utility as a combat ship, and she was superseded in fleet service as newer carriers were completed during the later 1920s. Laid up early in the next decade, she was later modified for use as mother ship for target aircraft and as a training carrier. Argus served in a training role during much of World War II, but the desperate circumstances of the first years of that conflict sometimes required that she see front-line service, notably in 1942, when she served with Force H and later supported the landings in North Africa. After further training duty, she was reduced to reserve in late 1943 and was hulked as an accomodations ship in August 1944. Argus was sold for scrapping on 5 December 1946. Finally scrapped at Inverkeithing in 1947.

Commanding Officers:
HMS Argus was in reserve at the start of the 2nd World War, she was recommissioned on 7 October 1939

Commanding Officers:
Capt. Henry Cecil Bovell, RN
7 October 1939 – 16 August 1940

Capt. Edmund Gerard Noel Rushbrooke, DSC, RN
16 August 1940 – 12 April 1941

Capt. Tom Oliver Bulteel, RN
12 April 1941 – 29 October 1941

Capt. George Tothill Philip, DSC, RN
29 October 1941 – 15 January 1943

Capt. Henry Lockhart St. John Fancourt, DSO, RN
15 January 1943 – September 1943

Capt. Villiers Nicholas Surtees, DSO, RN
September 1943 – 27 July 1944

Capt. Robert Henry Campbell Crawford, OBE, RD, RNR
27 July 1944 – 20 November 1944

Cdr. Alan Douglas Bruford, RNVR
20 November 1944 – still in command in July 1945 according to the Navy List

HMS Argus is not listed as active unit in the October 1945 Navy List